There is a delicious moment in the first chapter of THE TALE OF BRIAN AND THE HOUSE PAINTER MERVYN that promises all the fun to come; Moab, overwhelmed by his son’s pain, declares “I will hire an Artist to paint your room with all the things you like just as they are”– my, those were fateful words– “and you can watch him work.” The line sings with character (the parent who longs to fix everything for his child), hubris (a rich man assuming his wealth can remedy any problem), and the sly humor of an invisible narrator winking at his reader (“my, those were fateful words”). The promise is fulfilled in Lance Lee’s surprisingly deep and delightfully laugh-out-loud prose, supplemented by the whimsical and color-saturated artwork of Meilo So.

We are introduced to Sandstone-by-the-Sea, a strange land of witches and sea dragons and haunted forests that exists right alongside a world of cars and iPhones, and to the enormous family of the richest man in town, Moab Jones, including the ailing Brian who must be kept from all excitement until the source of his illness is discovered. When Moab ventures out into Artists Lane to try to find one person who will paint Brian’s wall with images of the outside world, the “artistes” are outraged and offended; doesn’t Moab know that painting things realistically destroys inspiration? This witty poking at the nature of creative expression and the inflated and touchy egos of those who create is refreshing for any reader who’s struggled to understand why an abstract painting depicting a single cube of color is considered art.

THE TALE OF BRIAN AND THE HOUSE PAINTER MERVYN takes some outrageous twists and turns and brings the reader on quite the wild narrative ride, but it’s also deeply satisfying at the level of wordplay and not-so-subtle skewering of art, the law, religion, and small town politics. Lance Lee’s fertile imagination and Meilo So’s visual delights are perfectly matched in this “fable for children and their parents” and both will love it equally.; THE TALE OF BRIAN AND THE HOUSE PAINTER MERVYN is truly a family affair.

THE TALE OF BRIAN AND THE HOUSE PAINTER MERVYN, by Lance Lee with illustrations by Meilo So, is a thoroughly enjoyable yarn that manages to succeed on two levels: as a colorful and imaginative fantasy for children and a slyly hilarious treatise on art, government, and religion for adults.

~Shari Simpson for IndieReader